Are You Able to Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern World
There are many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, which turned timber into planks using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted the rotary motion into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending stroke while moving on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular movement to vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s most impactful creation.
